Auction Selling Guide

Auction Selling Guide

Auction is a transparent, efficient and cost effective way of selling property.

Subject to agreeing a realistic reserve (or minimum sale price), most properties are suitable for auction with sellers ranging from banks and charities, to individuals, property companies, public bodies and receivers.

If you are contemplating selling a property, our experienced auction team is on hand to advise on its suitability for auction and provide a free informal appraisal. If you are looking to buy, you may find this guide helpful or see the “Note to Prospective Purchasers” which is printed at the front of each catalogue.

In order to give best advice it would help if you can provide the following details:

Address and post code

A brief description of the property, including any floor/site plans and photograph

Tenure and occupation details

Any other relevant information, such as a history of the property and any planning information

Our surveyors will contact you to advise if the property is suitable for auction and give an informal view of reserve and guide price, which has to be reflective of the reserve.

If you decide to proceed to auction we will discuss and confirm in writing, timescales, commission, auction expenses and our terms of engagement. There will be an entry fee as a contribution towards auction marketing, including an appropriate catalogue entry, board and general advertising, which all serve to give your lot wide-scale exposure to potential buyers.

If Strettons has not sold for you before we will need proof of your identity, ownership of the property and authority to sell. Once we have been instructed, we will aim to inspect the property to prepare a draft catalogue entry for you and your solicitor to approve. Please note that we will be working to strict catalogue production timescales.

Your solicitor will need to prepare a legal pack containing special conditions of sale, title documents, details of occupancies, searches, planning documentation and office copy entries. We will also require your solicitor to confirm you have authority to sell the property. Where relevant you will also need to provide an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

All this information will be posted on our website and available for downloading by potential bidders via our user-friendly system which allows us to notify applicants of any changes updates.

About three weeks prior to the auction sale, marketing will begin on a nationwide scale both online and offline. We will organise viewings where appropriate and answer incoming queries that will help ensure the bidders are qualified on the day.

As we approach the auction day we will finalise the reserve price with you which will be the minimum price you authorise us to sell. You are welcome to attend the auction venue in Central London and observe the auction in action. If you would like to understand the workings of an auction, you are welcome to attend one of the “Behind the Scenes” seminars held before each auction.

Once we have accepted a bid for the property, it is placed in a binding contract and the buyer is required to complete a Memorandum of Sale and provide a 10% deposit.

We will send the purchaser’s contract to your solicitor with completion due to take place within the stipulated timeframe - usually 20 working days and the cleared deposit funds will be paid to you less our fees.

If the property fails to sell on the day, we may be able to agree a sale shortly afterwards as we continue to market the property. Simple, really!

If you want any informal advice or just want to know more about Auctions, please don’t be afraid to ask any of the Auction team or you can contact me directly.